UNIVERSITY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Statement from the UPEI Board of Governors: Shannon MacDonald elected as new chair

The 26-member Board is comprised of members either appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, elected by the Board itself, or elected by and from the UPEI Alumni Association, UPEI Senate, the faculty of the University, and the UPEI student body. Currently, there are seven vacancies on the Board: four are for positions appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council and three are for positions elected by the Board.

With the recent resignation of two Board members (which created two of the seven vacancies) including Mr. Pat Sinnott, the Chair position was left vacant. Section 12(1) of the University Act stipulates that the Board members will elect the Chair from the current Board membership.

At a special meeting held on Friday, June 23, the UPEI Board of Governors elected Ms. Shannon MacDonald, FCA, CPA, ICD.D, as the new Chair.

With over 30 years of professional experience, Ms. MacDonald is a partner with Ernst and Young Canada's national healthcare practice and has held senior leadership roles with Accenture Canada and Deloitte in health system policy and transformation. A champion of diversity, Ms. MacDonald was a founding member of Deloitte's diversity council and was the firm's Chief Inclusion Officer for three years. Ms. MacDonald joined the Board in 2017 and has served as chair of the Governance and Appeals Committee since 2018. She is also chair of the Presidential Search Committee, where she is championing enhanced due diligence processes to ensure the University's next president lives up to UPEI's values related to equity, diversity and inclusion.

Ms. MacDonald is known as a thought leader and popular speaker on topics ranging from productivity and governance to financial imperatives for provincial government programs and health care systems. Frequently honoured for her contributions to business and community leadership, she was named one of Canada's Most Powerful Women by the Women's Executive Network four times and one of Atlantic Canada's Top 50 CEOs in 2011 and 2012. She was presented with a UPEI Distinguished Alumni Award in 2019.

A native and seasonal resident of Blooming Point, PEI, Ms. MacDonald graduated from UPEI in 1990 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and from the University of Toronto in 1999 with a Master of Health Science degree.

Ms. MacDonald said after her election as chair, "I am committed to leading the Board of Governors through a renewal process, which will focus on assuring a diversity of voices and a thorough Board governance review that ensures Board members are provided with the information and tools they need to fulfill their mandate."